Chapter 696: Chapter 278: Quantitative Change Triggers Qualitative Change (Part 2)

The entire team expressed congratulations and welcome for Perez’s arrival.

A mature team is like a large company, destined not to be swayed by emotions, even if they are more familiar with Trulli and have better relationships.

The only exception was Trulli’s race engineer, Sote, whose smile was a bit forced.

He didn’t dislike Perez and understood the survival of the fittest in the paddock, but lamented more from a friendship perspective.

However, Sote will not serve as Perez’s race engineer; he arrived at the HRT Team alongside GP2 team engineer Bard to take on the temporary race engineer role.

On one hand, the two have worked together for a long time and understand each other’s needs better.

On the other hand, Sote is considered Trulli’s "private" team member, adhering to the principle of avoiding suspicion.

After greeting each other, Perez headed to the driver lounge, which was already packed with people.

Odetto, Bell, Sawano Hiroyuki, and even Huali’s external engineer Cheng Jian were in the crowd, all eyes fixed on Chen Xiangbei on the racing simulator.

The reason was simple—he was too fast!

When Odetto left yesterday, Chen Xiangbei’s fastest lap was still around the 1 minute and 37-second range.

Compared to the ideal lap calculated by the computer simulation, this result wasn’t too bad, considering it was a brand-new track that no one had ever raced on before, and other drivers needed time to adapt as well.

Of course, it wasn’t particularly impressive either; "average" would be a fitting description.

What Odetto didn’t know was that after night fell, Chen Xiangbei had already reached the 1-minute and 36-second mark!

But this result was still not enough for Chen Xiangbei; only he knew from a god’s eye view the historic pole speed of the inaugural South Korea F1 Grand Prix, and he was still nearly a second slower.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiangbei vaguely remembered that at least three drivers had broken into the 1-minute and 35-second zone in that pole race: both Red Bull Racing cars and Alonso from Ferrari Team.

It must be admitted that Alonso at his peak was frighteningly strong.

Driving the third fastest car in the paddock, he could secure a top-three position on any track.

The most absurd point was that Alonso doesn’t use simulators!

Yes, Alonso has a characteristic—he rarely uses racing simulators.

The initial reason was that when Alonso debuted, racing simulators were very rudimentary and almost ineffective for training, making older generation drivers develop a habit.

When simulators evolved to three-axis, five-axis, and multi-screen stages, Alonso’s driving feel was already set, and he worried that too much simulator training might affect his car feel and track judgment.

It’s like some young drivers from later generations treating simulators as reality.

Over time, Alonso gradually stopped using simulators.

Of course, "rarely uses" doesn’t mean "doesn’t use."

For new tracks like Lingyan Circuit, which have never been part of an F1 season, Alonso definitely used simulators to familiarize himself.

One can only say that historical GOTA drivers possess extraordinary talent, and ordinary people must put in double the effort to reach their usual state!

HRT Team members certainly didn’t know Alonso’s speed; they only knew Chen Xiangbei returned very late to the hotel last night.

If it were other young drivers, everyone would surely suspect he went off to pick up girls and party, but with Chen Xiangbei, they were very reassured; this kid stayed in the P room driver lounge for simulator training instead.

In fact, that’s exactly what happened; Chen Xiangbei didn’t return to the hotel until 1 a.m.

At 7 a.m. the next day, when the morning light started to appear, he headed alone to the P room to continue.

Yesterday, Odetto didn’t find anything particularly remarkable about Chen Xiangbei’s persistence.

He might just want to practice more.

However, upon learning that Chen Xiangbei headed to the P room again this morning, Odetto truly felt a bit impressed!

Racing simulators seem similar to games. Some internet-addicted teenagers play computer games for ten to twenty hours, but with real motion trajectory simulation and steering wheel force of dozens of pounds and brake force over a hundred pounds.

No internet-addicted teenagers can withstand such high-intensity "brick-moving" games.

Chen Xiangbei achieved it; he truly treats his profession as life!

The effect of such dedication and focus was reflected on the upper left of the screen with a lap time fixed at 1 minute 35 seconds 713.

Although Odetto and others didn’t know how fast the first pole position on Lingyan Circuit could be, based on his many years of professional experience, the fastest lap on new tracks usually is about one second faster than the ideal lap.

This meant Chen Xiangbei’s lap time was extremely close to the unknown pole position!

Enhancing by over two seconds in under twenty-four hours, this kind of astonishing progress Odetto had never heard of, even when using racing simulators.

Because of this, all strategy group members gathered around; they couldn’t believe it without witnessing it firsthand!

Perez had just arrived at the team’s P room, naturally unaware of the events, and could only stand in the crowd watching Chen Xiangbei on the simulator.

In comparison to drivers from American countries, Perez also belonged to the category without a birth certificate, understanding that standing firm in F1 requires extra effort and standout results.

After Trulli got injured, Perez synchronized studying Lingyan Circuit data to prepare for a substitute entry.

Though lacking historical corner data and driver’s first-person video for learning, Perez relied on baseline information and panoramic Lingyan Circuit footage to memorize every corner and elevation change, gaining an overall understanding of the track layout.

Within merely a minute of watching Chen Xiangbei’s lines and speed on the simulator, Perez revealed a shocked expression.

So smooth!

To be honest, during the China F1 Grand Prix, Perez was already deeply shaken witnessing Chen Xiangbei’s performance live.

He never imagined a Chinese driver could achieve such jaw-dropping speed and even clinch the standalone championship.

However, considering home field advantage factors, Perez could understand.

Much like the Rodriguez Circuit in Mexico, Perez also felt confident in executing perfect lines, believing as long as the car’s performance wasn’t lacking, he could snag the home championship!

But the Korean Lingyan Circuit wasn’t Chen Xiangbei’s home track, a brand-new circuit never hosting a race before, yet Chen Xiangbei delivered such precise and smooth lines?

"Mazzola, is Xiangbei familiar with the Korean track?"

Perez couldn’t help but ask the testing engineer Mazzola beside him.

He thought, since they were both East Asian countries, perhaps Chen Xiangbei had the advantage of close proximity.

"Not familiar."

Mazzola shook his head.

"Then why..."

Perez didn’t finish his sentence, but Mazzola understood what he meant.

"Since Xiangbei arrived at Lingyan Circuit yesterday, he’s been seated at the simulator driving, barring a few hours of sleep."

"His current simulator lap time is just over a second slower than the ideal computer lap, which is qualifying competitive lap time."

Hearing Mazzola’s explanation, Perez gasped.

He thought he was diligent enough, thinking he might shine in his debut.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiangbei was even more extreme!

When someone has more talent and works harder than you, it’s hard to know what could help you win.

At this moment, Perez somewhat understood why hot-tempered and stubborn Trulli, who almost fought on the track, would "willingly" serve as a backup driver to a Chinese rookie, even using collisions to block opponents as a wingman gesture.

Chen Xiangbei’s advantage is not just the home field; he’s truly a super genius!

As Perez was in a daze, the driver lounge erupted with cheers and applause.

Chen Xiangbei had just finished his latest lap with the screen showing a time of 1 minute 35 seconds 779.

He further improved his simulator fastest lap by 0.2 seconds, indicating his speed hadn’t reached the limit yet.

However, compared to the team’s rejoicing, Chen Xiangbei remained expressionless as he pressed the start button for another round of simulator driving training.

At that moment, Chen Xiangbei, in Perez’s eyes, seemed like a merciless track killer!

Low-key, reserved, and lethal!